"Shane should win this award since he is an amazing person with a big heart and dedication to science. He is very hardworking, tries to trouble shoot by himself, yet has no hesitation in asking for help when necessary. I am truly grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people. My lab, mostly populated by undergraduate and graduate students, had exciting experiments planned and a couple of manuscripts in the pipeline, when I suffered a heart attack. Beginning to recover from that small and unexpected hiccup in life’s journey, I was planning on how I would move the lab forward, when Shane joined the lab. He was fresh out of the undergraduate program at UB, with no lab experience, but a love for science and a drive to gain hands-on experience before proceeding to joining the PhD program. Shane who loves animals had volunteered, while in school, at the Animal Shelter at the Mohawk Humane Society NY. With his experience and empathy, he quickly completed all the necessary training and requirements, and took charge of the colony that I maintain. With guidance from the experts, he continues to maintain diligent records and tracking each one of them. In the lab, he continues to do the necessary experiments, sometimes even watching youtube videos and asking experts in neighboring labs when help is needed. He is the lab manager, procuring reagents, maintaining the lab well-stocked, planning ahead for the experiments and always ready to lend a helping hand. He is a team-player, training the undergraduates that I bring into the lab, helping them integrate into the lab space, encouraging them to work independently and participating in the completion of the lab projects. In this short span of time, he presented data at a meeting, is a coauthor on a couple of abstracts, a manuscript published from the lab and a manuscript that is in the pipeline. He will be proceeding to do his PhD in the future, which will be a loss for the lab. In closing, Shane is a committed and enthusiastic scientist and I am proud to say he will be an asset to any research institution he joins."

Nominated by Jessy Alexander, Jessy John Alexander, University at Buffalo, United States